There are a lot of wonderful alternative healing methods out there, and they are rapidly gaining public awareness as we approach awakening. Reiki, quantum healing, acupuncture, herbology, acupressure, aromatherapy, reflexology, sound and colour healing, and many others are becoming "general knowledge", and I think this is wonderful. I assume you don't need me to give a lecture on why the western medical system is based on lies for profit, do you? :P (Seriously - if you doubt this, message me. I would be happy to educate you. lol)

However, while all these alternative methods have undeniable benefits - I support the body's natural ability to heal itself. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you never got sick in the first place, and never had to medicate yourself? Not a cold, sore throat, headache, lethargy, arthritis, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's.... Nothing? You would need very fortunate genes indeed! Or would you? Actually, I believe we all have the innate ability to heal ourselves. No medical treatment would be needed if you gave your body access to what it is naturally supposed to have. I'm not talking about some secret elixir of youth - I'm talking about the things that we all know are good for us, with all the bad stuff taken out. With a totally natural lifestyle, you can live many years longer than is assumed to be "normal" in our current society - and better yet, you won't suffer the degeneration that most people take for granted as a "natural" part of aging. I personally plan to go hiking to celebrate my hundredth birthday. :) Let me explain how you too can live with this confidence.

DIET
Diet features at the top of my list of natural healing. The basis of a natural diet is simple - eat only unprocessed, fresh, ripe, organic food, drink only pure water, and get your calories each day roughly in the rations of 80% carbohydrates, 10% fats, and 10% proteins - and get as many different food types each day as possible. Simple! Right?

Unprocessed: this means not heated (cooked, pastuerised, dehydrated), not cooled (of course it would be impractical to suggest not using a refrigerator, but keep in mind the sooner you eat fresh food the better), nothing added to it, and nothing "done" to it other than masticating (chewing) - this includes juicing. If it has to be cooked to digest it, then its not meant to be eaten. Yes, that includes meat and grains (wheat, bran, corn, rice... sorry!). This is often the part that people question the most. Sure, everyone knows that fruit and veg are good for you. But don't you need other things also? And the answer according to cappy is: no. Meat is bad. Grains are bad. But that's a whole other blog post in itself, if you doubt me ^__^

Fresh: the sooner you eat it after picking, the better!

Ripe: the plant is absorbing nutrients the whole time it is connected to its stem and root system. If you pick a fruit before it is properly ripe (think of all those green bananas you see at the local store), it will continue to "ripen" over time through contact with the air - but it will be deficient in the nutrients it would otherwise have assimilated, had it been allowed to ripen on the vine.

Organic: obviously you don't want chemicals which are designed to kill bugs in your healing system. From a monetary point of view it can be hard to be completely organic, so the compromise that I make is that fruits with a skin that isn't eaten (banana, mango, papaya, avocado) and anything you eat the skin of (apple, pear, grape etc) I try to go organic. If not, just make sure you wash it well!

Things to leave out: Fish. Sure, fish contains a lot of awesome nutrients. But our water system (across the world) has become so polluted this century that its actually impossible to find seafood that isn't high in dangerous toxins. Don't worry, we can sort it out within a resource based economy, and your grandchildren can eat fish again :)

Pure Water: harder than it sounds these days. Basically to be sure you are minimising toxic intake, you need to drink distilled water. But this isn't very realistic just yet (come on, resource based economy), so I would recommend buying bottled water from source (not from sitting stagnant in a reservoir indefinitely - check the label). Or you can invest in a water purification system at home.

80% Carbohydrates: the staples of my diet are currently banana, mango, papaya and grape.
10% Fat: avocado, olives, and some leafy vegetables are great for getting your vegetable fats.
10% Protein: you really do not need to supplement your diet with protein rich foods such as nuts or soya. Beans such as soya aren't healthy anyway, and although nuts have some great nutrients, they are too high in protein to eat in large amounts.

Variation: In Japan, pupils are taught to try to get 40 different food types a day, and 100 different types a week. Narrowing out everything other than raw foods, you are going to find it more difficult to reach those goals. Just be aware that every food has slightly different benefits, so get as many different colours and textures in as possible.

SLEEP
Needless to say, your body heals itself best while asleep. I can promise you that if you can stick to a natural diet, you will sleep like a baby - and you will need much less sleep each night than on a modern diet.

SUNLIGHT
You need vitamin D! Supplements are available, but there's nothing like the real thing baby. If your skin is very light, you only need a short amount of exposure every day. Dark skinned people need much more exposure to absorb the required amounts. Personally, living on the British Isles, I use a sun-bed. If you choose this route, make sure its got electronic ballasts - and not magnetic ones. A good way to tell (although your tanning salon should know) is that the magnetic ballasts have a loud humming noise. However if you live in a cool climate like I do and you don't want to take a risk on a sun-bed, take vitamin D supplements. Make sure you get a trusted brand with a pure form and as few additives as possible. Ideally, move somewhere you can get real sunlight every day :P

Remember to wear sun glasses to protect your eyes, and a hat to protect your head and back of our neck. Drink plenty of pure water to keep yourself hydrated, too. But please don't buy into the propaganda that you need to wear sun lotion. The chemicals are more likely to cause skin cancer than the sun, provided you're sensible and don't let yourself burn.

EXERSIZE
I don't need to tell you to get active! Try to move as many different parts of your body throughout the day as possible. Even if you don't have the time to do proper exercise, put more physical effort into your everyday actions. You'll feel great, and sleep even better! :P

MENTAL STIMULATION
I can't begin to explain how important it is to keep your mind active. Society is structured in such a way that most people are stuck in monotonous jobs 5 days a week, and they just want to relax and catch up on housework on their days off. Take time out every day to do a little mental exercise, and you wont have to worry about mental deterioration in old age, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Plus it will give you a greater feeling of purpose, and you can learn about all those wonderful methods of healing that aren't taught in the education system! :)

HAPPINESS
I've saved the best for last deliberately. Studies have repeatedly shown that a generally happy person with a positive outlook on life lives longer and healthier than a miserable person, even when there is significant difference in other health choices. If you believe Bruce Lipton (of whom I am a supporter), the body can either be in a state of love/ growth, or fear (fight or flight)/ protection. If your cells are constantly protecting themselves, they wont absorb all those lovely nutrients you've been eating! What a waste! So get those happy hormones pumping... And hey, why would you want to live longer if you weren't happy? If you can't think of anything to be happy about - message me! :-D

Of course I don't want anyone to take my word for it when it comes to choices in health and lifestyle. The purpose of this blog is to make people aware of the conclusions I have found on my search for absolute health. Every claim can be backed by science, and I am prepared to break each point down into individual posts in the future, if there is a demand for the information. Don't just jump into the decision to completely change your lifestyle; particularly diet - there is a detoxifying period, and if you do it wrong you could be missing out on valuable nutrients and calories. Do your research! And feel free to ask me :-)